Mission Statement: The Berks County Department of Emergency Services proudly executes our mission of contributing to the safety of individuals living and working in, and travelling through, Berks County, Pennsylvania. In conjunction with our local, state, and federal partners, we maintain a state of high readiness for disasters, both technological and natural, through a comprehensive program of mitigation, prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery.

Our staff stands ready with training and expertise in skills related to emergency communications, planning, technical incident support, logistics, and command. This expertise, in conjunction with a relentless pursuit of our five core values, makes us a leader among the Pennsylvania emergency services.

Core Values: Our sense of Duty recognizes the importance of our mission to the community we serve. It ensures that we always remember that, together, we are part of something bigger than ourselves, and even bigger than the sum of all our parts. It is the foundation of our dedication.

Our Integrity ensures that actions taken in the pursuit of our mission are ethical, and promote the philosophy of “the greatest good” when we are faced with difficult or paradoxical decisions. It allows us to remember that we are part of our team in both our professional and our personal lives.

Our Compassion allows us to render aid to others in a way that values the individual we are interacting with. It also helps us to value the concepts of altruism, loyalty, and respect with all persons with whom we work.

Our sense of Equality reminds us that we execute our mission for the benefit of all regardless of their race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, infirmity, political affiliations or sexual preference.

Our commitment to future Vision constantly drives us to work toward the community’s needs tomorrow, while meeting its needs today. It ensures that we will never find ourselves having not predicted the public safety needs of our constituency at a level that would prevent us from serving them efficiently.

Reading, PA - As a result of the damaging wind and hail storm which affected parts of Berks County on May 22, 2014, the Commissioners of the County of Berks directed the Berks County Department of Emergency Services to begin collecting from local government jurisdictions, information about the extent of uninsured damages that took place in their areas.

The intent of this data collection effort was to assess whether there would be eligibility for Berks County to be included in a federal “Small Business Administration Disaster Declaration” to assist individuals and businesses suffering uninsured losses as a result of the storm.

Data collection efforts were undertaken and, while a significant number of forms were filed, the total extent of the damage failed to meet the minimum threshold requirements dictated by federal regulations to qualify for individual and business assistance.

Department of Emergency Services personnel continue to work with senior county leadership to evaluate possible eligibility for the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. This program is intended to assist businesses that suffer significant loss of revenue as a result of a disaster event.